Comparing and Contrasting Hinduism & Buddhism
For nearly all people situated in the Western hemisphere of the world, very little is known concerning the true concepts and virtues of Eastern religions, Hinduism and Buddhism in particular. While it is safe to say that many people would be surprised that there are different concepts to yoga than just stretching and different positions; there are undoubtedly exhausting amounts of specific details and ideas in Hinduism and Buddhism that people are misinformed about. Specifically, the similarities and differences of these two faiths. Now, as a result of Buddhism emerged from Hinduism, the two religions are very much alike although, they are still two completely different religions with their own
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In the present day, karma is basically understood by most people as, “what goes around comes around,” and while this is an accurate way of thinking about the concept of karma, it is simply much more complex than that. When talking about karma in Hinduism, the one who follows the order of their caste system creates positive karma for themselves, while an individual who doesn’t follow social order in the caste system creates unfavorable karma for themselves. “When a soul is reborn it may enter a body in a higher or lower state of existence than its previous one. The new body may be that of a king, a beggar, or even an animal or insect. The determining factor of a soul’s new existence is the quality of life led by the individual soul in its previous existence. This is called the law of karma” (Wangu 2002). Basically, in Hinduism one’s karmic actions are compensated for by the host body which they occupy in their later life. On the contrary, the Buddhist faith teaches that a person’s social status is insignificant and that their karma is reliant on conformity to religious practices and laws. Contrastingly, both Buddhism and Hinduism claim that the life in which one is born into depends on one’s own karma however the way in which one attains and loses karma in each faith are …show more content…
Hinduism and Buddhism both support the idea of enlightenment even if the idea of what comes after enlightenment is slightly differing. They also agree on the concept of Samsara and reincarnation through it. However, they have different ideas on the concepts of karma and enlightenment: in Hinduism, whoever attains the highest position in the caste system is thought to have accumulated favorable karma and is near to achieving Moksha and in Buddhism karma is accumulated by obedience to Dharma and morality. While both faiths may contain many of the same concepts and ideas, the thing that separates the two is how they interpret these ideas and concepts, which drive Buddhism and Hinduism’s adherents toward their own individual path to
There are many religions that are practiced around the world, especially in Asia where there are eight different religions being practiced. In the country of India, Buddhism and Hinduism are the main religions that are practiced today. Buddhism and Hinduism were both founded in Asia, but they were founded by two different people and practiced in two different ways and languages. Buddhism is a living tradition that is passed down from teacher to student as a set of instruction and techniques for sanity and brilliance in the inner self and the world. Hinduism is more based on the thoughts and attitude about one’s everyday life, and reflects in his actions.
Hinduism and Buddhism have different similarities and are in some ways connected to each other. Some of the practices of the two religions are similar in various ways and there are several examples to show this.
Karma is ancient belief whose history can be traced back to when Buddhism had just been established by the Buddha and it was still in its early stages.Early Buddhism taught that karma was non-linear,meaning that your past actions would not affect you in the present, and your present actions would not affect your future. The quote, “Karma isn’t fate.Nor is it a punishment imposed on us by some external agent.We create our own karma. Karma is the result of choices that we make every moment of every day.” means that the actions we commit every day will create karma, and whether the outcome of that karma is good or bad is determined by your actions. On the contrary, some Indian schools taught that karma was linear, meaning your past and present actions would affect you later in life. The doctrine of the belief states that one person’s karma cannot affect another person’s future.For example, the transfer of merit states that one person can transfer good karma to another, and this is found in both Buddhism and Hinduism. However, a wide spectrum of various aspects of Indian religions believe that karma can be shared. The outcome of your karma is determined by whether your actions were helpful and kind, or if your actions were cruel and decadent.The quote, “Ka...
Hinduism and Buddhism, worship multiple deities and they follow the same path to achieve the Nirvana state which is a place where all the enlightened are. The Buddha’s teaching help is regularly summarized in the four respectable Truths, which type those premises of the 1st sermon he conveyed then afterward achieving enlightenment, and the eightfold Path, which gives a fundamental aide to how to live in the world. . Over
Hinduism and Buddhism are both their own religions and cultures. They are different in many ways that define who they are and what their faith is. Hinduism was not founde...
One of the major Hindu beliefs that Buddhism rejects is the Caste System, or “jati” in Sanskrit (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). The caste system is the social structure of Hinduism. It starts with the Brahmins, who are the priests and scholars, followed by the Kshatriya or warrior class. Next is the Vaishya, merchant class, and lastly the Shudras, the lowest caste designated to perform the impure and foul jobs the upper castes would never do. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The rules of the caste system are specific. Inter-marriages between castes are heavily discouraged and one can never change their caste during their current lifetime. Each caste has its own cosmic duties to fulfill, and not doing so could be detrimental to the world or an individuals karma. These distinct duties are referred to as one’s Dharma. (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317) The Laws of Manu state “Better to do one’s own dharma badly than another caste’s dharma well” (Esposito, Fasching, and Lewis 317). Through saṃsāra, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, hopefully every soul will eventua...
Today there are an estimated six hundred million Buddhists and about eight hundred twenty-eight million practicing Hinduism. Both believe in an ultimate spiritual reality beyond the physical world, both practice meditation and other forms of yoga and both these religions originated in India. Although there are many similarities between Buddhism and Hinduism they both have fair differences. The small differences have a huge impact on the two religions, because they are altogether two separate beliefs. They share a special history with each other, which is to be expected since they are from the same region.
Hinduism is the 3rd most popular religion in the world followed by Buddhism, together they are followed by 22 percent of the world’s population. These two religions are alike in many ways, and are tied together by Asia, where they have deep roots in its culture and history. Although Hinduism and Buddhism are similar in many ways, very important and large differences separate the two. No one and nothing can ever truly prove either religion is better than the other because that is up to personal beliefs and opinions, but many more people around the world prefer Buddhism over Hinduism because of its beliefs and practices.
Buddhism is currently the fourth most popular religion in our society today, following Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Its major ideologies are based on the philosophies of Siddhartha Guatama, also known as “Buddha”, who began his teachings in 598 BCE at the age of 35, according to Buddhist texts. A Buddhist’s foremost aspiration is the obtainment of Bodhi, or enlightenment through meditation and Anapana-sati (awareness of the breath). Buddhism shares many ideologies with India’s Hinduism and Yoga such as non-harming, non-violence, and self-awareness. In many instances, people regard Buddhism as a way of life rather than a religion, for it has no clear belief in the idea of a God or Gods. Its structure is built upon a hierarchy much like Christianity where superior orders such as Lamas or the Dalai Lama are said to be chosen by nature through the process of reincarnation rather than by a council like Christianity’s Pope. Though these “higher level” Buddhists are rare (not everyone is a reincarnation of an ancient Buddhist “priest”), all are permitted to follow “The Middle Way” either as a Buddhist monk or the simple attendance of a weekly teaching session from time to time. Throughout the last few hundred years the Buddhist population has blossomed into a healthy 381,611,000 and over fifteen different sects including Zen, Mahayana, and Theravada.
"In Hinduism, salvation is achieved through a spiritual oneness of the soul, atman, with the ultimate reality of the universe, Brahman. To achieve this goal, the soul must obtain moksha, or liberation from the samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. As a result of these basic teachings, Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is influenced by karma (material actions resulting from the consequences of previous actions), and dharma (fulfilling one's duty in life)"(Teachings and Beliefs, 2004, par. 1).
The concept of Karma within Hinduism is applied to the overall idea of rebirth that each individual’s life cycle is driven by the course of actions they take. Furthermore, Karma serves to be a notion that determines each individual’s hierarchical position within each life that they obtain (Molloy 2013). I am highly familiar with the concept of Karma as growing up a Hindu myself and having been exposed to the moral law through cultural and religious understanding, Karma serves to hold a crucial place within how I practice my religion. Moreover, the conception of Karma consists of a spectrum, which serves as a form of orientation and guidance for humans and their behavior. For instance, one end of the spectrum determines if an individual will live a free, pleasurable life while the other end of the spectrum will determine if the individual will live an unpleasant life after rebirth based on his or her moral conduct within the past life (Molloy 2013). In addition, gaining an insight on the ideology of Karma from religious and moral teachings since childhood proved to be highly fascinating for me as I
Man has always found pleasure in expressing himself by creating art. Through the centuries, man’s art has left behind clues and insight that enables the generations of today to understand their ancestors. In particular, historians and artist alike can see what certain Asian sculptures reflect of the culture and religious beliefs of Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism is the parent religion to Buddhism; much like Judaism is to Christianity. Despite Buddhism and Hinduism sharing similar philosophies and various idealisms, their respective sculptures also show their differences. There are two important characteristic of the sculptures of these religions. The first is motion versus rest, and second the subject matter. It is these two types of characteristics historians and artist can help use to decipher Hindu and Buddhist sculptures.
Throughout the history of humankind, man has always searched to find answers to the many existential questions. Numerous different religions and denominations have developed around the world over time. Though, most wonder about the origin and purpose of our existence. Buddhism was founded on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama about 2,600 years ago in India. After he had experienced that everyone was subject to “birth, sickness, death, and old age”, he tried to find a way to break from the cycle of rebirth (Bloom). Siddhartha Gautama experimented with a number of methods to find the cause of suffering which led him to what he called the Middle Way – a path between “licentiousness and extreme mortification” (Bloom). Once he achieved enlightenment, he turned into ‘the Buddha – the enlightened or awakened one’. Christianity is one of the largest and most prevailing religions of the world and largely based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians trust that Jesus was sent by God to save humanity. Therefore, the faith of the followers of the Christian belief is primarily based on the preaching of Jesus and later the spreading of those by his disciples. Although Buddhism and Christianity show several parallels, their three key differences are that Buddhists do not believe in one divine being, and have different views about both the purpose of life and the concept of afterlife.
Upon reading about the historical and religious background of Ancient India, one can clearly assume that the country was strongly influenced by three main religious teachings: Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. These three sects in religious thinking have many similarities as all recognize the life-cycle and the need of liberation, they worship one central deity that used to be a human who gained enlightenment and they all recognize the existence of the eternal soul and after-death re-incarnation. However, they also share a lot of differences that mark the underlying principles of practicing them. I will identify the scope of differences and similarities in these ancient religions in an attempt to understand why each attracted followers, why each was shaped a certain way and how they preserved the interest of followers on into the modern times as well.
Buddhism and Christianity are different religions. Both have numerous similarities as well as differences that one might find really interesting to look at in details. These two religions have certain beliefs, values and traditions which are really compatible. On the other hand, some of these values, beliefs and traditional practices are quite contradicting and conflicting. This makes the study of these two religions an inevitable and pleasurable task. Theology historians have raised adequate concerns and issues relating to connections between Buddhism and Christianity. They claim that there is strong comparability between the characters of Jesus and Buddha, especially their lives and teachings.